Humanoid robot runs half marathon race in Beijing faster than human world record

(19 Apr 2026)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beijing, China - 19 April 2026
1. Wide of Honor’s humanoid robot breaking finish line
2. Wide of human and robot participants setting off at start line of Beijing’s 2026 Humanoid Robot Half Marathon
3. Mid of humanoid robot running on track
4. Various of marathon participants taking photos of robot participants
5. Robot running on track
6. Various of spectators in the stands
7. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Jiang Liangzhi, spectator:
“Their performance is quite impressive. I didn’t expect the speeds to be this fast already, and they’re all very stable.”
8. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Sun Zhigang, spectator:
“I feel enormous changes this year. I’m very excited. First of all, it’s the first time robots have surpassed humans, and that’s something I never imagined. Second, I think all the teams have put in a tremendous effort, whether in the robots’ design or their overall performance.”
9. Robot Tiangong Ultra crossing finish line
10. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Wang Wen, spectator:
“I wanted to come last year but didn’t have the chance. Now, I’m here this year, my biggest impression is that robots seem to have stolen a lot of the spotlight from humans and judging from today’s results, the robots’ speed far exceeds that of humans. I think this may signal the arrival of sort of a new era.”
11. Mid of a robot greeting the audience while another robot falls on track
12. Various of robot operators adjusting and repairing fallen robot
13. Wide of people watching a marathon
14. Mid of robot running on track followed by support vehicle
15. Honor’s robot bursting through finish line
16. Winner robot surrounded by media
17. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Du Xiaodi, Test Development Engineer at Honor:
“From the very beginning of the design, our robot was modeled on outstanding human athletes, achieving long legs of about 0.95 meters. This is a major improvement and highlight in terms of its appearance and design. In addition, we’ve equipped it with a very powerful liquid-cooling system, which is also largely developed in-house.”
18. Robot crossing finish line
19. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Du Xiaodi, Test Development Engineer at Honor:
“Looking ahead, some of these technologies might be transferred to other areas. For example, structural reliability and liquid-cooling technology could be applied in future industrial scenarios. It’s similar to how the automotive industry initially developed through competitions.”
20. Various of spectator filming screen carrying live feed of race
21. Various of humanoid robot falling, being carried away on stretcher
STORYLINE:
A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China's technological progress.

The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21-kilometer (13-mile) race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, according to a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race kicked off.

That was faster than the human world record holder, Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race.

The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward from last year's inaugural race, during which the winning robot finished in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds.

But the competition, which was held alongside a race for humans, wasn’t without hiccups — one robot fell flat at the start line, another bumped into a barrier.
AP video by Borg Wong, Nicky Zhu, Wu Jia and Liu Zheng
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